How to Thicken Your Skin

March 25, 2016March 23, 2016 / roughwighting / 107 Comments

Apparently, my skin is not nearly thick enough.

In my world, skin shouldn’t have to be thick. I slather it with lotions to make it soft, sunburn-free, and smooth. I’ve never encountered a lotion claiming to:

“THICKEN YOUR SKIN! Lavender or Rose Scent. Never again let a mean word seep in.”

No, I rub lavender body lotion day and night to keep skin from drying out in the NE weather.

Apparently, that lotion has also thinned my skin.

At least, that’s my first guess when I go on the Amazon page for my book The Right Wrong Man and read – gasp – a bad review.

My stomach turns into a turnip, my eyes moisten, and my soul shrivels into a sniveling snail.

How could this reader be so…so… mean? Continue reading →

The Spirit Speaks

December 11, 2015December 10, 2015 / roughwighting / 62 Comments

No one ever told me that hands become gnarly after too much time in the sun.

My hands are as gnarly as the bark on an old oak tree.

But, at least they’re sun-kissed – the color of a beige antique car.

My hands soar when a story strives to alight from my funny, surprising brain, a brain that is awash with jangled memories and silly jokes, serious worries and spurts of light-filled love. Continue reading →

What’s in a Name? Part II

May 15, 2015August 25, 2016 / roughwighting / 54 Comments

Teaching about writing is an oxymoron.

[Oxymoron – the use of two words that contradict each other, like ‘wise fool.’]

How can I, or anyone, teach another to write?

A rocky oxymoron.

Well, that’s the point. I don’t offer a creative writing class to teach how to write, but to point out the importance of using the right words – to name things correctly – when creating a story. Even more importantly, I offer small (writing) steps that each of us can use to help our pen move.

If the pen moves, we connect.

Brain, pen, soul, body, back to pen, brain, soul equals a story worth telling.

That’s my theory, although others may debunk it. Continue reading →

Ice Cube Writing

March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 / roughwighting / 55 Comments

Write a 5-minute story while sucking on an ice cube.

Early on this chilly March morning, I’m sitting in front of my computer with an ice cube in my mouth.

It’s 25 degrees, windy and bleak outside, and the heat hasn’t kicked in, but I’m moving the large cube, more like a rectangle now, from one side of my mouth to the other.

Yesterday I thought, “okay, time to do the ice exercise – this will be easy.” But yesterday it was a balmy 39 degrees and sunny. The buds on the trees looked hopeful, as if they truly believed they would have a chance to warm up, pop out, and live once again. Continue reading →